Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) -- The American doctor being treated for
Ebola in Atlanta is improving and in good spirits, his family
and supporters said, as a top health official downplayed fears
the deadly virus could take hold in the U.S.

Kent Brantly became infected while working with the North
Carolina-based charity Samaritan’s Purse in Liberia. He arrived
in Atlanta Aug. 2 to be treated at Emory University Hospital,
and is expected to be followed there as early as tomorrow by
Nancy Writebol, an aid worker also infected in Liberia.

Tom Frieden, head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, said yesterday on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that
he was hopeful on Brantly’s recovery. He also said an Ebola
outbreak in the U.S. similar to the one in West Africa is highly
unlikely because the U.S. has better infection controls in
hospitals and in burial procedures.

“Could we have another person here, could we have a case
or two? Not impossible,” Frieden said. “We say in medicine
never say never. But we know how to stop it here.”

The outbreak in West Africa has infected at least 1,440 and
killed 826 since March, the Geneva-based World Health
Organization said in an update on its website yesterday. Brantly
and Writebol had been in isolation at an Ebola center in Liberia
since being infected about a week ago.

Brantly’s wife, Amber, yesterday thanked Emory University
Hospital for accepting her husband, in a statement released by
Samaritan’s Purse. She said she was able to talk with her
husband during the day.

‘Good Spirits’

“He is in good spirits,” Amber Brantly said in the
statement. “He thanked everyone for their prayers and asked for
continued prayer for Nancy Writebol’s safe return, and full
recovery.”

Nancy Writebol and her husband, David, were missionaries
for Eustis, Florida-based Rafiki Foundation for 14 years and
left around 2012, when they took their current post with the
charity called SIM USA. While with Rafiki they spent time in
Ecuador and in Zambia, running an orphanage and school, Karen
Elliott, Rafiki Foundation’s executive director said today.

Elliott said she’s been staying in touch with David
Writebol by e-mail but did not have any first-hand updates of
Nancy’s condition. Rafiki is a Christian-based mission and aid
group currently working in 10 African countries, Elliott said.

Medical care of the two U.S. citizens may take two to three
weeks if all goes well, Bruce Ribner, an infectious disease
specialist at Emory, said in an Aug. 1 news conference. There is
no cure for Ebola. Patients get fluids, blood transfusions and
antibiotics to fight off infections with the hope their immune
systems can fight off Ebola’s onslaught.

Three Countries

Liberia, where the two Americans were infected, is one of
three African countries where the deadly virus is raging. On
Aug. 2, the WHO announced a new, $100 million push to contain
the outbreak on July 31.

The presidents of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea agreed
at an Aug. 1 emergency meeting to isolate the border region
where the three countries meet, according to an e-mailed
statement from Sierra Leone’s health ministry. Police and
military will be sent to the area, it said. The leaders also
pledged to give incentives to medical staff to persuade them to
help fight the virus’s spread.

Liberia’s vice president, Joseph Boakai, said in an
interview yesterday that the spread of Ebola in that country
threatens to erase the economic progress the West African nation
has made since the end of the civil war in 2003.

“This is an emergency that has superimposed upon our
resources and we need to deal with it immediately,” he said in
an interview today with Bloomberg TV in Washington. “This is
going to challenge all of our development agenda.”

Liberia Economy

Liberia, which has an economy of about $2 billion, relies
on World Bank aid and grants to fund about a third of
its budget. The $100 million pledged by the WHO to combat the
disease s a “reasonable” start, Boakai said.

“We need for people to understand this is an emergency,
just as something like a flood or any other disaster,”
according to Boakai, who is representing President Ellen
Johnson-Sirleaf at the U.S.-Africa summit in Washington this
week. Liberia “doesn’t have the personnel or knowledge to
handle this by ourselves,” he said.

Frieden, as part of a tour of Sunday morning talk shows,
said on CBS that the most important thing that can be done with
the outbreak is “to stop it at the source in Africa,” he said.
“That’s going to protect them and protect us.”

The statements came a day after the International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said the
viral outbreak in West Africa, the worst in history, needs a
serious increase in effort to be contained.

‘Blind Eye’

“The spread of the virus can only be halted with scaled-up
support and coordinated action by all parties,” Panu Saaristo,
the federation’s emergency health coordinator, said yesterday in
a statement. “We cannot continue to turn a blind eye on what is
happening in western Africa.”

Appeals for emergency funding have not been met, hampering
response to the outbreak, said Benoit Carpentier, a spokesman
for the aid group.

The CDC, which confirmed the Brantly and Writebol cases are
the first ever on U.S. soil, is working with the hospital and
transport company to make sure evacuation of the two patients
goes safely, said Barbara Reynolds, an agency spokeswoman.

“We’re here to make sure the transportation process and
the care here in the U.S. ensures there’s no spread,” Reynolds
said. “It’s important to remember this is not an airborne
virus, it requires close contact with body fluids. It’s minimal
risk as long as the people caring for the patient use meticulous
procedures.”

Atlanta Airfield

The plane carrying Brantly landed at Dobbins Air Reserve
Base near Atlanta. Both patients will fly into that airfield,
Department of Defense spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby said at
an Aug. 1 briefing.

Faculty members and visitors to Emory, located in a hilly
area of stately homes and winding streets, showed little sign of
worry yesterday about the arrival of the two Ebola patients.

Lisa Garvin, associate dean of chapel and religious life,
said most of the concern is coming from her Facebook friends who
live outside Atlanta. Students seem proud their school is
fulfilling its health and education mission, Garvin said.

“People think it’s cool that Emory’s helping solve a world
crisis,” said Jeff Tate, who works in facilities and operations
at Emory.

The Reverend Raphael Warnock of Ebenezer Baptist Church
said he believes most Atlantans understand that Emory can
provide safe care to the two victims.

“I think there are far more people in Atlanta who are
proud that this is a place where these kinds of serious medical
issues can be addressed,” Warnock said.